Have your say

Rugby fans will be able to vote for in the SARU Rugby Player of the Year Awards.

Rugby fans will be able to vote for in the SARU Rugby Player of the Year Awards.

The public will be asked to cast their votes in the two main categories, Player of the Year and Young Player of the Year.

Media, coaches and players will also have a major say in determining the outstanding players of the season in a range of categories and competitions.

Public polling for the top Award, South Africa’s Rugby Player of the Year, will open on 19 November 2013 with the awards due to be announced at a gala event on 12 February 2014 in Johannesburg. A lucky participating fan will be drawn randomly and invited to the awards with a partner.

Jurie Roux, SARU CEO said: "It is again very pleasing that we are able to give our rugby fans a voice in the game, and the SARU Player of the Year Awards is an ideal platform to do so.

"Last year proved that supporters have strong opinions on who should win and the feedback was great, hence the decision to make the public part of the polling process again," said Roux.

Roux said that the fans' vote would count for 50 percent of the final tally alongside the vote of the rugby media, who had exclusively decided on the winners in recent years. Fans and media will decide on the marquee awards of Player of the Year and Young Player of the Year.

"The awards are a highlight on the South African rugby calendar, and involving the fans and coaches more directly will no doubt add to the prestige of the event."

The public will make their vote for the top award on SARU's Facebook page. Go to www.facebook.com/springboks and vote on the specially-designed app on the page. Rules of the competition and terms and conditions are available on the page.

The voting mechanism for the Young Player of the Year Award is via e-mail and starts on Tuesday 19 November 2013.

The public are encouraged to send their nominations to SARUPOY2013@sarugby.co.za.

Similarly to last year, the coaches will again exclusively decide the best players in Super Rugby, Currie Cup and the Vodacom Cup competitions. They will also choose the Coach of the Year and share the responsibility for choosing the Referee of the Year with the Rugby Referees' Society.